There was a similar post about what rifle you use, but I'm curious what the members have actually taken the most whitetail deer with? I'm not asking what you've been hunting with the most, but over the course of your hunting career, what caliber have you taken the most whitetail deer with?

Though I don't hunt that much with it now, I've taken more deer through the years with my Marlin 30-30.

Probably a .308.

For me, it's the 308 Win. Next in line would be a tie between a 30/06 & a 22-250.

The interesting thing is, that I shot my 308 Win. deer with some cheap soft nosed Berdan primed Argentina military surplus ammo that grouped pretty well. I've taken 3 or 4 deer with that combo and in all cases said deer dropped where they stood.

Mine is probably my 300 win mag. More because I shoot left handed and it was my first true left handed gun and is still my favorite.

For me, it's a Contender carbine with a 20 1/8th" 7mm Bullberry barrel on it.

Here are 2 of my most memorable:


I've also taken a number of hogs with the little rig. It's not spectacular in the ballistics department, but it is superbly accurate --and I've never felt undergunned with it in my possession.

I was asking myself that question the other day. I honestly can't remember how many deer I have shot in 25 years of deer hunting, but came to the conclusion that most were shot with a 270, followed closely by a 7mm RM.

pretty equal split between .308, .30-06 and 7mm mauser

.308

Walt

I may have been a little quick on the trigger. In my early days of handgun hunting, I used the .250 Savage quite a bit. I still think the Bullberry has taken more deer for me, but the .250 Savage isn't far behind.

I grew up in a state where rifles werent allowed, so the majority of my deer were taken with a shotgun.

Diyasub:

Don't mean to pry but I see you are from my home state's Adiroundacks - so I'm assuming you are from another state (no need to mention). Your post particularly caught my eye because I grew up in a Southern county of NY and there were several commercial apple orchards near me. I was trusted by the owners at about age 16 and regularly shot deer in the orchards -under permit. (In those days proof of deer doing $500 or more damage warranted shooting) Thus I had shot about 12 deer in about two years. (I'm casting back in old memory) before I ever used a rifle on deer - at age 18 -and it was my father's old (even then)Savage 99 in 30-30. I shot perhaps 3 deer with a 30-30 over the next years - but I grew tired of having a whitetail run off waving his flag at me (I didn't like stand hunting and enjoyed walking up deer) - and knowing that a direct hind shot with a 30-30 just wouldn't work. I went to a 30-06, 180gr. and shot deer regularly ever after with it. I am NOT suggesting that the 30-30 isn't a fine cartridge (many years ago I read that it had killed more North American game than any other - and with the possible exception of the 30-06, I'm inclined to accept that) Anyway, I hope you are enjoying using a rifle in our Adiroundacks!

Probably with my win. m-63 in 22 L.R., many years ago on a ranch we had leased in Mexico for about 10 or so years. I guess I was about 10 or 12 years old and my job was to shoot Whitetail and Mule deer to feed a fencing crew and I shot a heck of a lot of deer as we also fed the local Forrestals and their families, the mordida system at its best...
Also shot a lot of them with a 25-35 Win carbine, but ammo was expensive so I went to the .22..They both worked fine...

308 by far. From age 16 -30 thats all I hunted with. Have a butt load of rifles now but the old 788 rem in 308 still gets the call when I go for deer.
MM

My first "High Powered" was a Remington 788 in 243Win at the ripe old age of 12. It probably has acounted for 18 or 20 deer.

I started deer hunting with a 30-06 and used it exclusivly for 21 years. For the last 10 years I have mixed it up a bit but still use the 30-06 some of the time. It has accounted for about 90% of all deer and the one elk I got.

Greg

Definitly the good old 30-06, with 150gr. bullets. But after shooting x number with the scope sighted rifle I've switched to a 44 mag handgun for 99% of my deer hunting. It's just to easy to hit 'em with a scoped rifle anymore. I have used a lever action 30-30 with cast bullets a couple of times and that was fun.

I've taken the vast majority of animals with either a Hoyt or Mathews bow. My 270s are second place for numbers.

Yep, 270 by far. .250 Savage is piling them up lately though.

For me it's the quarter bores....I've used two rifles in .25-06, and .257 Roberts to take by far the most of my deer.

I've used almost everything from .222 to .375 H&H but those two quarterbores have put the lions share of venison in the freezer and on the wall.

7x57 Mauser. Lately, I lean more toward the 7-08, but the younger round will probably never catch up.

Among rifles, 270, since it was my only rifle for 15 years. Probably 15 deer. Over 20 with my bows. None of my other rifle calibers have more than 2.

For the most deer killed with one caliber, I've taken 402 with my trusty .270's - 319 with my Sako and 83 with my Ruger #1. I've also killed 14 deer with my .338 WM, 7 with my Mossberg rifled barrel slug gun, 2 with a long-gone POS Browning A-Bolt in .300 WM. 1 deer fell to my first "real" deer rifle, an $89.95 K-Mart special Marlin .336 and I also took one deer with a borrowed Remington 30-06.

I have KILLED most with a 7-08 followed close by my .270 Win. I have never TOOK, TAKE,or TAKEN a deer anywhere except to the freezer!!

270 winchester

Most of my deer (mule deer) have been taken with a .50 cal muzzle loader. The next rifle has to be the .270 Win. My very first deer was taken with a .243 Win.

7mm Rem Mag, but the 300 WSM is closing in!

338-06 for the majority and a 30-06 for the rest.

More than anything else, the 7mm Rem Mag. 2nd would be a 30-06.

gd

The venerable 30-30 has put more venison on my table than any other....after that it would be the 270

would have to be my 30-06 i think, followed by my 7RM, then .243, t/c omega, and a few have fallen to my stick and string. and one to the .44mag ruger.

As far as deer, 25/06 without a doubt.

It might be interesting to ask this question based on what caliber or guage was used to put total pounds of meat on the table.

308Win, 30-06 would be the big Kill counts. Then the 300WinMag and 7mmRemMag accounted for a bunch during the l-o-n-g distance phase. Fewer Kills with the 7mm-08, 358Win, 35Rem, 350RemMag.

Killed the least of all with the 243Wins, but have close to 250Kills with them. A 243Win does NOT Kill nearly as well as any of the others mentioned.

Less than 100 each with the 357Mag and 44Mag.

Never tried a 22cal on Game - never will.

The ole reliable 7MM Express. pre 64 fwt w/douglas xx barrel, topped with Leo MX8 6X42. Gotta luv it.

Out of the following:

22-250: 20-24? because 22 centerfires are too small for deer
243 -1
257 Roberts-1
270 Win- I have no idea on numbers well over 100 maybe 150? I happen to believe this is THE perfect deer cartridge, but I am slightly biased
338-06 -6
388 WM -1
348 Win -3
350 RM-1
375 H&H-2
44 mag pistol-1
archery- 12?
muzzleloader- 3

This will be my 30th year hunting.

As you can see the 270 wins hands down!

The 22-250 comes in second with close to a couple dozen.

a .54 roundball by far...

.308 -- 118 deer
30-6 ---42
45/70 -- 4
35 whelen - 1
12 ga. slug -- 27
10 ga. slug -- 22
54 cal muzzleloader - 1
.44 mag handgun -- 3

for the last 40 years, a 270 winchester with 130gr corelokts (some with 130gr partitions, some with 140gr ultra corelokts, and a few with 15ogr partitions) and a few power points thrown in for equality.

We didn't have any whitetail deer where I grew up in Colorado. It wasn't until I moved to Montana in the mid 70's that I got to hunt whitetails. I shot my first few whitetails with a .30-06 and 150 gr bullets.

I then built a .257 AI in the early 80's and since then it's accounted for almost all of my whitetail and mule deer, pronghorns, bighorn and Dall sheep, and a mountain caribou and a 6 pt bull elk. 117 gr Sierra spitzers or 120 gr Hornady hollow points at about 3000 fps work equally well.

I have used a .257 for deer, exclusively.

6.5-06AI by a good margin, The 308 is next.